In 2023, there has been an explosion of new or highly advanced ransomware attacks, leaving organizations exposed to destruction and theft like never before. We’ve even seen ransomware capable of disabling antimalware and automated scans for a seamless way into networks.
Although we still recommend using antimalware and running scans, we have to recognize they’re no longer as safe as they once were. Below, we cover what your next best options are for ransomware data recovery as you navigate today’s evolved cyber landscape.
How Does Ransomware Encrypt Data?
Before we discuss the best methods for ransomware data recovery, it’s important to understand how ransomware can encrypt your data in the first place, especially given that 76% of cyber attacks involve data encryption.
There are two main ways hackers can encrypt data with ransomware:
Device ransomware encryption. Targeting your organization’s storage system is one way ransomware might encrypt your data. Encrypting your data yourself doesn’t stop this method since the system has already been compromised, bypassing the need to scan your files.
File ransomware encryption. Your computer's entire contents are encrypted in the event of this ransomware, making it impossible to access them until they are decrypted.
3 Techniques for Restoring Files After a Ransomware Attack
1. Utilize Data Backups
Data backups offer a crucial layer of defense. In the event of ransomware, cloud backups help avoid significant downtime or the need to pay a ransom, as your data will be available to you both onsite and offsite.
2. Use a Decryption Tool
A decryption tool is software that’s designed to unlock files encrypted by ransomware. By utilizing the encryption key or password that was used to lock the files in the first place, the tool can decrypt the files to restore them to their initial state.
3. Restore Your Systems
Doing a thorough wipe of all storage devices is one of the most direct methods to ensure that malware or ransomware has been eliminated from your system.
Before doing so, you should take into account the possibility that an infection may have been in your system for some time before being caught. Therefore, you should record the date that you caught the attack and any other details you have learned about the ransomware. This allows you to determine the right course of action for restoring your systems and protecting them from the same type of ransomware moving forward.
While doing a full system restore seems nerve-wracking, if you’ve kept your data backed up in a separate location—and it’s the most updated version of your data—then you should be able to get back up and running again sooner rather than later.
The Most Reliable Ransomware Data Recovery Solution
Although the techniques above are reliable ransomware solutions for recovering encrypted files, there’s a less stressful method to be mentioned: working with a credible team of cyber security professionals.
How a Cyber Security Team Can Help You Recover Your Data and Protect It Going Forward
Ransomware Recovery as a Service
When backups are compromised by ransomware, a company-wide emergency results. A Ransomware Recovery as a Service (RRaaS) team can handle the complexity of ransomware-encrypted data recovery.
While you focus on your operations, your cyber security will be safe in the hands of an expert RRaaS team who knows what to do.
Immutable Backups
Today's advanced ransomware targets backups, altering or erasing them entirely, which can lead to devastating results.
An elite team of cyber security professionals can help swiftly restore your data to the most recent clean state via an immutable file system, which naturally blocks illegal access or destruction of backups.
Check Every Box of Your Ransomware Data Recovery Process
While the ever-evolving landscape of ransomware attacks isn’t slowing down anytime soon, and the process of protecting your organization at every point can be overwhelming, we’re here to help you further.
Get your free copy of our Ransomware Recovery Checklist to check every box during your ransomware data recovery process and best protect your organization moving forward.
